Gheorghe Popescu
Popescu in 2018
Personal information
Date of birth (1967-10-09) 9 October 1967
Place of birth Calafat, Romania
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Sweeper, centre back, midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Farul Constanța (chairman)
Youth career
1975–1984 Dunărea Calafat
1984–1985 Universitatea Craiova
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1990 Universitatea Craiova 124 (18)
1988 → Steaua București (loan) 13 (1)
1990–1994 PSV 108 (23)
1994–1995 Tottenham Hotspur 23 (3)
1995–1997 Barcelona 68 (9)
1997–2001 Galatasaray 111 (6)
2001–2002 Lecce 28 (3)
2002 Dinamo București 8 (0)
2002–2003 Hannover 96 14 (1)
Total 497 (64)
International career
1988–2003 Romania 115 (16)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gheorghe "Gică" Popescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡe̯orɡe ˈd͡ʒikə poˈpesku]; born 9 October 1967) is a Romanian former professional football player who played as a defender.

He notably played in La Liga where he is a former captain of FC Barcelona. He played for a string of European clubs in that period, including a four-year stint at PSV Eindhoven and winning the UEFA Cup with Galatasaray. He also played in the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, in Serie A with Lecce and in the Bundesliga with Hannover 96. In his native country he played for Universitatea Craiova, Steaua București and Dinamo București. In addition to his defensive skills, he was also capable of starting attacks deep from his own half.

His tactical knowledge as a defender made him a valuable team member in top European competitions until he reached his late-thirties. He was a key part of the Romania national team in the 1990s and earned 115 caps, scoring 16 goals. He was present at 1990 World Cup, 1994 World Cup, Euro 1996, 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He is the brother-in-law of fellow Romanian international Gheorghe Hagi.

Club career

After playing six seasons for Universitatea Craiova, Popescu was loaned to Romanian giants Steaua Bucharest reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup during their 1987–88 campaign. He moved abroad to the Netherlands in 1990, and signed for PSV Eindhoven at the request of Sir Bobby Robson, helping them to keep among the top Dutch sides, until he was transferred to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on 9 September 1994 for a fee of £2.9million.[1] He played 23 times in the Premier League and scored three goals as Spurs (who changed manager from Ossie Ardiles to Gerry Francis a few weeks after Popescu arrived) finished seventh in the league – their highest finish for five years. He also helped them to reach the FA Cup semi-finals, where they lost 4–1 to eventual cup winners Everton.[2] However, after less than a year in England, he left Tottenham to sign for the Spanish club Barcelona for £3million, succeeding Ronald Koeman in the team.[3] He was made captain of the Catalan club, contributing to their Copa del Rey (domestic cup) glory in his first season and their UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph in his second.

After leaving Barcelona during the summer of 1997, he was transferred to Galatasaray of Turkey, where he spent four years and won several major trophies, including the UEFA Cup in May 2000 – where Galatasaray defeated Arsenal, key rivals of his old club Tottenham, on penalties after a goalless draw in open play and he scored the final penalty shot in the penalty shootout. He spent the 2001–2002 season in Italy with Serie A club Lecce, before returning to his native Romania for a brief spell with Dinamo Bucharest, before winding up with a season in Germany with Hannover 96.

Popescu was never outside the top four in the Romanian Footballer of the Year awards for 13 years from 1989 until 2001. He was recently voted into Romanian footballs all-time World Cup team.[4]

International career

At international level, Popescu is Romania's all-time third most capped players with 115, in which he scored 16 goals. He played for his country in the 1990, 1994, and 1998 World Cups, Euro 1996 and Euro 2000. He also entered the symbolic but exclusive circle of players with a century of caps.[5]

Personal life

He is the brother-in-law of fellow Romanian international Gheorghe Hagi.

Tax evasion and imprisonment

On 4 March 2014, Popescu and seven others, among them Mihai Stoica, were convicted by a Romanian appeals court of money laundering and tax evasion in connection with the transfer of football players from Romania to other countries. Popescu was sentenced to a jail term of three years and one month.[6][7] He was released for good conduct on 4 November 2015, after serving half of his sentence, the books he wrote and published during his imprisonment also helping towards his reduced sentence as customary for Romanian law.[8]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[9][10]
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Universitatea Craiova 1984–85 Divizia A 20–0020
1985–86 181–30211
1986–87 311–40351
1987–88 141–20161
1988–89 338–00338
1989–90 267–00267
Total 12418–9013318
Steaua București (loan) 1987–88 Divizia A 131–30161
PSV 1990–91 Eredivisie 3051–20326
1991–92 2970–30327
1992–93 2460–60306
1993–94 2350–11246
1994–95 200–0020
Total 108231–12112025
Tottenham Hotspur 1994–95 Premier League 2333020–283
Barcelona 1995–96 La Liga 39572–81548
1996–97 29450–81425
Total 689122–1619612
Galatasaray 1997–98 1.Lig 32282–80484
1998–99 29251–80423
1999–2000 25230–140422
2000–01 24030–150420
2001–02 10––3040
Total 1116193–4801789
Lecce 2001–02 Serie A 28300––283
Dinamo București 2002–03 Divizia A 8000–0080
Hannover 2002–03 Bundesliga 14100––141
Career total 497643462088362173

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[5]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Romania 198840
198981
1990140
199160
199241
199340
1994151
199550
199686
199774
1998122
199980
200060
200151
200280
200310
Total11516
Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Popescu goal.
List of international goals scored by Gheorghe Popescu
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
117 May 1989Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Bulgaria1–01–0FIFA World Cup 1990 Qualifying
229 November 1992Neo GSZ Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus Cyprus1–04–1FIFA World Cup 1994 Qualifying
312 November 1994Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Slovakia1–03–2UEFA Euro 1996 Qualifying
41 June 1996Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Moldova2–03–1Friendly
51 June 1996Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Moldova3–03–1Friendly
69 October 1996Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland Iceland3–04–0World Cup 1998 Qualifying
714 December 1996Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Macedonia1–03–0World Cup 1998 Qualifying
814 December 1996Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Macedonia2–03–0World Cup 1998 Qualifying
914 December 1996Gradski Stadium, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Macedonia3–03–0World Cup 1998 Qualifying
1029 March 1997Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Liechtenstein2–08–0World Cup 1998 Qualifying
1129 March 1997Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Liechtenstein3–08–0World Cup 1998 Qualifying
1229 March 1997Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Liechtenstein6–08–0World Cup 1998 Qualifying
1329 March 1997Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Liechtenstein8–08–0World Cup 1998 Qualifying
146 June 1998Stadionul Ilie Oană, Ploieşti, Romania Moldova1–05–1Friendly
152 September 1998Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Liechtenstein1–07–0UEFA Euro 2000 Qualifying
166 October 2001Stadionul Ghencea, Bucharest, Romania Georgia1–11–1World Cup 2002 Qualifying

Honours

Steaua București

PSV

Barcelona

Galatasaray

Individual

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Football: Spurs sign Popescu: Sugar takes outlay to 7.5m pounds". The Independent. 10 September 1994.
  2. ↑ "Gheorghe POPESCU". Sporting-heroes.net. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  3. ↑ Ridley, Ian (13 August 1995). "Club-by-club guide: The prospects, the players to watch, the arrivals and departures". The Independent.
  4. ↑ "Planet World Cup: The All-Time World Cup Squads". planetworldcup.com. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  5. 1 2 Mamrud, Roberto (5 April 2003). "Gheorghe Popescu – Century of International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "Ex-aanvoerder Barcelona moet drie jaar de cel in" (in Dutch). De Standaard. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  7. ↑ "Gică Popescu, condamnat cu EXECUTARE cu o zi înaintea alegerilor de la FRF" (in Romanian). romaniatv.net. 4 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  8. ↑ "Gheorghe Popescu, la ieşirea din închisoare: A fost cea mai grea perioadă din viaţa mea" (in Romanian). agerpres.ro. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  9. ↑ Gheorghe Popescu at National-Football-Teams.com
  10. ↑ Gheorghe Popescu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  11. ↑ Razvan Toma (6 January 2016). "Romania – Player of the Year Awards". RSSSF. Retrieved 9 February 2016.

Further reading

  • Nanu, Daniel (2003). Gică Popescu: Viața mea. Edigold. ISBN 978-9-7300-2985-7.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gheorghe Popescu.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.